Evaluation of chronic disease self-management programme (CDSMP) for older adults in Hong Kong

Objectives: To evaluate the locally-adapted CDSMP for older adults with chronic diseases in Hong Kong in the primary care setting. Design: A longitudinal, quasi-experimental study. Setting: Community-based and primary care setting. Participants: Seven hundred and seventy-two participants aged 55 or above with at least one chronic disease and were living in the community. Intervention: The 6-weeks programme consisted of 6 group sessions, with each session lasting for 2.5 hours. Trained professional and elder lay leaders facilitated participants to gain essential self-management knowledge and skills for the effective management of chronic diseases. Measurements: At baseline and 6 months, four categories of outcome measures were documented, covering self-management behaviours, self-efficacy, health status, and health care utilization. Results: 302 and 298 participants in the intervention and control groups completed 6 months follow-up respectively. Participants in the intervention group reported significant improvements in all self-management behaviours and self-efficacy measures, and 5 health status measures (social role limitation, depressive symptoms, health distress, symptoms of pain and discomfort, and self-rated health) when compared with those in the control group. Conclusions: The locally-adapted CDSMP may improve self-management behaviours, self-efficacy and health status among older adults with chronic diseases in Hong Kong. CDSMP may be integrated into primary care services for older adults.